At the weekend, the Wessex CX League arrived at Chilton Manor Farm in Candovers, where our road rivals, VC Venta, hosted their first cyclocross race and the fifth round of the season. And, what a race it was!
The course included a large climb up to the finish, closely followed by two consecutive banks; this was followed with a slow drag up towards the manor, including a bank that grew muddier throughout the day; then we came back down towards the bottom of the incline only to drag back up again after the pits; accompanying this was several corners of varying types that descended to some switchbacks before heading back up the climb. Sunday showed the major efforts by riders as they tackled the climbs with enthusiasm.
First up, Charlie Latham-Gardner took sixth in the U8 boys, with Sunni Muriithi in eighth and Jordan Riley in ninth. Florence Boustred came fifth in the U10s and Amie WIlliams finished seventh. Leighton Riley took fourth, Joseph Lovegrove in eighth, Wilfred Barlow in tenth and Harrison Hough fifteenth.
The U12s rode on an extended kid’s course; Emily Williams took that last podium step with her third podium of the season, Freddie Trosh and Reuben Lewis accompanied her with Sotonia podiums finishing second and third respectively. Theo Plumb came sixth, Archie Frogley ninth, James Sutton fourteenth, Ruben Davies eighteenth and Alfie Hough and James Martin, twentieth and twenty-first.
Next up, the last of the youths. A huge well done to them with a few having raced on Saturday at Derby for the Nationals – Sotonia saw some good results at the difficult race and some hard work on both days. In the U14s, Eve Carline received her fourth second place of the season; Ruby Boustred came ninth and Billy Dyer fifteenth. For the U16s, Marit Davidse reached her first podium of the season, finishing in third. Reuben Harrington came in fourth, fighting hard for third. Adam Koperdan came tenth (racing under Venta colours), and Morgan Gilbert and George Boustred fought it out coming twelfth and thirteenth respectively.
Then the adults took to the course and our riders didn’t disappoint. In the M40s, Andi Gardiner took his THIRD win of the season, fighting hard against the Junior lead; a massive well done to Andy! Tom Budden chased hard, completing the podium with third. Pete Boustred came eighth, a great result following a mechanical in the first lap. In the Juniors, Samuel Marcade was third, proving his worth against some of our M40 coaches; Stanley Phillips followed home with fourth and Benji Pike landed sixth.
Emma Harrison came fifth in the Senior women’s, and Poppy Carline finished second Junior. A big shout out to Jez Hart, who made his post injury return to cyclo-cross in the M50s.
Overall, a brilliant turn-out for the club last Sunday and check out those Nationals results for our riders that made it to Derby! See you all this weekend in Basingstoke!